How to Maximize Your Training Technique with Video

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video must be worth ten thousand words of how-to training. Every company has to train employees to use a process. Creating a video library for training saves you time and money and maintains more consistency in your corporate learning than live training can.

Follow this simple step-by-step process to make your training videos powerful and memorable:

Extract knowledge from the experts.

The most important task in training is providing the right information from people in the know. The challenge is that the people in the know don’t often articulate what they know. Find a subject expert, and interview that person to determine the key points to be shown in your video. Spend some time discussing which steps are crucial.

Separate the process into manageable steps.

Any complex process is easier to learn when it’s chunked down into a series of steps. If the steps are long ones, you may need a video for each one.

Plan your training to be taught in chunks of three to five minutes.

Identify the key interest point in every step.

If all steps are similar, a trainee may have difficulty differentiating them. Identify the one or two most important elements of each step in the process, and make it the focal point of each video.

Create a memorable saying that differentiates the step from the others.

Any process with many steps is hard to remember, no matter how many times employees watch instructional videos. Make every video stand out on its own by finding a phrase or an action that’s specific to the step.

If you attach a song or a joke (even a silly one) to a step, you make the step much more memorable for the trainee. For maximum effect, coordinate the punch line to the action you want.

Create a uniform look and feel to the series.

Making every video memorable is important, but you also need to tie it all together to distinguish each process.

If your accounts receivable process is based on a horror film theme, for example, and your computer maintenance training series was shot in the style of an educational hygiene film from the 1950s, your employees will categorize the video series in their minds. They can then not only remember the information but also direct other employees.

The best training is meaningful and memorable. If you make the extra effort to create fun and entertaining training videos, you spend less time having to train people yourself or clean up after their mistakes.